Future-proofing Residue Analysis Services for Crop Protection

As the regulatory landscape across the globe is rapidly evolving, more sophisticated requirements must be met by registrants and scientists. In parallel, scientific advances have impacted previous methodologies that were once seen as cutting edge but now may fail to adequately address new regulatory challenges.

Clients should consider techniques to future-proof their studies to flexibly adapt to pre- and post-registration regulatory and scientific environments and keep up with trends in the crop protection market.

Thinking beyond registration

Clients must look beyond registration and consider how pre-registration can be used in post-registration to support downstream monitoring. At the most basic level, this may involve validating a downstream monitoring approach. Alternatively, clients may need to build the pre-registration analytics study in such a way that it can be simplified for monitoring at a later stage. Collaborative discussion and planning are key to the success of this approach.

Consider the use of QuEChERS (Quick Easy Cheap Effective Rugged Safe) methodology. This approach is especially valuable given the drive for post-registration multi-residue analysis of pesticides. Current developments suggest that this approach will become more common in pre-registration work.

The role of technology

With the modernization of basic techniques, clients may use or work with a partner that uses state-of-the-art equipment, which can provide a rapid throughput of samples and reduce reagent usage.

Taking an integrated approach

Clients can also consider how an integrated team approach can provide a seamless service between the lab and the field. Covance has an experienced team of study managers who can lead studies across both operational areas. This helps simplify the whole study approach from design, through field and lab analysis to the final study write up. In addition, quality assurance is maintained across the study, delivering reliable, consistent results in a timely fashion.

The importance of validation

When finding a partner to support your residue chemistry studies, it is important for clients to understand their methods for development and validation. A partner should use offer independent laboratory validation (ILV) where required and have experience in adapting methods to make use of more up-to-date instrument technologies, as well as utilizing current trends in extraction and clean-up techniques. This ensures that resulting methods are robust and meet the current and future expectations for the registration process.

Covance offers routine analysis of crops, processed commodities and soil, as well as providing analytical support for environmental fate, ecotoxicology, livestock feeding and operator exposure studies. Learn more about our Residue Analysis Services.